“F*** It”: Shaun White Was Ready to Quit US Olympic Team During PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018

Being a sportsperson does not come without sacrifice. Athletes let go of numerous things before they rise to the top of their game. However, sometimes they refuse to let go of the very thing they have worked so hard to accomplish. Snowboarder Shaun White faced a similar ordeal before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Before the 2018 Winter Games, there were a lot of speculations about the US competing in the meet. It gained traction when the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, hinted at a bar on the nation’s athletes from competing at the meet.

What did Shaun White decide to do in case of such an event?

White already had an uneventful run at the previous Winter Games owing to an injury. As such, he was not willing to let the opportunity of making a comeback at the PyeongChang Olympics go to waste. Therefore, when Haley implied about the meet, the snowboarder was among the first to question it.

The three-time Olympic medalist inquired whether banning athletes at the meet was the right thing to do. Soon the athlete received the answer he yearned for. White learned that even if there was a ban on the country from competing at the Winter Games, athletes had the choice to partake in the events individually.

However, he found out that one would need the approval of the International Olympic Committee to compete individually. But that was a chance he was willing to take for the love of the sport. He had come too far to turn back now.

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The athlete figured out the technicality involved. And he wanted to go for it in the advent his country did not allow athletes to compete at the meet. Indicating his inclination to compete at the meet individually, White rhetorically asked, “So you’d have to compete without a flag?”

However, the athlete did not wait for an answer as he continued, “F*** it, dude! We’d rock on.”

Did White have to compete individually at the meet?

The five-time Olympian did not want to let go of the chance to compete at the meet, especially after working hard to keep his form. White was not going to turn back now. He had already made too many sacrifices for the sport to do that.

However, the snowboarder did not have to compete individually at the meet as he had hoped. The country competed with the same zeal as they did in the previous meets. Moreover, White went on to bag the gold medal in the halfpipe event at the meet.

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He would compete at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 as his last meet. But this would be his final medal haul at the Winter Games. The athlete secured fourth place in the halfpipe event at the 2022 Winter Games.